December 13th- All overnight POW at Whistler
December 13th- All overnight POW at Whistler
10 days ago, if you lived in the Northwest, you may have asked yourself if old man winter was going to show up this year.

In the past 10 days Mount Baker went from a 13 inch base to approximately 65 inches at lower elevations, and 85 inches further up the mountain.

Whistler Ski area has seen 75 inches in 7 days. Amounts in the Interior of BC have been less in the past week (33 inches in 7 days at Revelstoke). They currently crush the Cascades in annual snowfall of 173 inches YTD with much higher early season moisture. Temperatures have been on the warm side in most of the Cascades during this last storm cycle creating significant work for patrols in mitigation, and the ability to open new terrain. Whistler has seen wind holds on lifts, weekend crowds, and limited terrain until recently. They bumped up from 23 trails to 106 in the past few days (Nearly 50%). At press time, much of the expert terrain especially off piste still remains closed. Avalanche mitigation understandably has delayed the opening of some areas. Additional snowfall this week will add to the snowpack considerably by the weekend.


On Tuesday, Mount Baker's general manager Duncan Howat said "In my 50 years at the resort, I don't think I have ever seen it snow this hard"

Current Snow bases. Caveat: Most of these resorts have all seen decent annual snowfall which in some cases does not correspond equally with settled mid mountain base depths.

1) Mount Baker WA 65 inches (92 inches in 7 days).

2) Grand Targhee WY 59 inches (130 YTD)

3) Lookout Pass ID 51 inches (36 inches in 7 days).

4) Alta Ski Area 46 inches (125 YTD)

5) Jackson Hole 42 inches (134 YTD)

6) Breckenridge 37 inches (138 inches YTD).

7) Mammoth Mountain 30-55 inches (Bast to Summit).

8) Jay Peak 26-44 inches (102 Inches YTD).

For comparison last season Mount Baker had a similar base depth for Mid December but had opened the resort in mid November (This years opening date was December 12th). Typical base depths for December range from 40-80 inches at Mt Baker. Last season was hit with deep early snowfall followed by several days of heavy rain, however 250 inches had fallen by the end of December 2017. This season started with little to no precipitation followed by significant snowfall. Temperatures have been running above average.

(Read more here)